Development and validation of Q-TOF/MS method for the rapid and simultaneous quantification of three aconitum alkaloids in food

Abstract

The safety of food is occasionally questionable, as there have been some reports of products contaminated with illegal adulterants. In this study, the presence of three aconitum alkaloids (aconitine, mesaconitine, and hypaconitine) in food was determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) and quadruple time of flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF/MS). The LC-MS/MS method was validated. The linearity (R²) was more than 0.999, and the LODs and LOQs ranged from 0.010 to 0.200 ng mL⁻¹ and 0.025 to 0.500 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. The precisions were 0.25–2.27% (intra-day) and 0.44–5.47% (inter-day), and the accuracies were 86.45–106.45% (intra-day) and 87.54–106.95% (inter-day). The mean recoveries of the spiked samples ranged from 99.04% to 102.30%. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of the stability was less than 7.33%. Using the developed method, the aconitum alkaloids were detected in 10 tested samples, obtained between 2012 and 2014, in the following quantities: aconitine, 57.1%; mesaconitine, 7.1%; and hypaconitine, 7.1%. Monitoring the presence of these three aconitum alkaloids in food should be pursued in the interest of human health, and the results of this study confirm that the developed method will be useful towards that end.